.::REALITYRECALL::.

A TV producer has pleaded guilty to attempted grand larceny for trying to extort $2 million from David Letterman over the comedian’s sexual affairs.

Last week we asked you to share your favorite VPN tool, then we rounded up the top five contenders for a vote. Now we’re back with the results. More »

Whoa. During the keynote presentation at TechEd Middle East in Dubai, Microsoft’s Eric Rudder played the same Indiana Jones-ish game on a Windows computer, a Windows Phone 7 phone, and an Xbox 360. Gaming is about to get real ubiquitous.

Reebok Canada is offering a $10,000 reward for the return of Sidney Crosby’s stick and a glove, which went missing after he scored in overtime to give Canada the Olympic gold medal in men’s hockey.

If you have ever wondered if you can instantly become the next Internet celebrity in an hour, the answer is yes, and it was all done from a single “tweet”.  Conan O’Brien changed a girl’s life forever, by making her the only person he is following on twitter, and posting…

Windows: If you’ve got more than one monitor, you’ve probably tried fullscreening a Flash video on one monitor while working in another. The problem: Flash exits fullscreen as soon as you click on something. FlashHacker fixes this problem.

A few months ago we highlighted a somewhat complicated method of tweaking Flash to fix this problem, but it hasn’t been updated for a while and doesn’t work with Flash 10 (the latest version of Flash). FlashHacker, on the other hand, should work like a charm on all versions of Flash. Just fire it up and click the big Hack My Flash! button. (Blogger Mike Pegg reports that he had to first click unhack and then hack, so if it’s not working the first time, you may want to try that.)

FlashHacker is a free download for Windows only. Any Mac or Linux users figure out how to address this issue? Let’s hear about it in the comments. Thanks badgerz!

Canada’s paper and cotton $10 and $20 bills will be replaced late next year with longer-lasting plasticized versions, the government announced in Ottawa.

We’ve been dying to know more about Microsoft’s Courier tablet / e-book device ever since we first caught wind of it last September, and while our entreaties to Mr. Ballmer went unanswered, we just learned some very interesting information from an extremely trusted source. We’re told Courier will function as a “digital journal,” and it’s designed to be seriously portable: it’s under an inch thick, weighs a little over a pound, and isn’t much bigger than a 5×7 photo when closed. That’s a lot smaller than we expected — this new picture really puts it into perspective — and the internals apparently reflect that emphasis on mobility: rather than Windows 7, we’re told the Courier is built on Tegra 2 and runs on the same OS as the Zune HD, Pink, and Windows Mobile 7 Series, which we’re taking to mean Windows CE 6.

As we’ve heard, the interface appears to be pen-based and centered around drawing and writing, with built-in handwriting recognition and a corresponding web site that allows access to everything entered into the device in a blog-like format complete with comments. We’re also hearing that there will be a built-in camera, and there’s a headphone jack for media playback. Most interestingly, it looks like the Courier will also serve as Microsoft’s e-book device, with a dedicated ecosystem centered around reading. It all sounds spectacular, but all we have for a launch date is “Q3 / Q4”, and we have no idea how much it’s going to cost, so we’re trying to maintain a healthy skepticism until any of this gets official — call us any time, Microsoft. One more pic showing the interface after the break.

Update: We’ve added a gallery of user interface shots — some of which we’ve seen and some of which are new.

Update 2: We’ve just gotten two full-length HD videos of the interface in action. We’ve seen parts of these before, but there’s some new stuff here that’s quite interesting. Check it below.

Continue reading Microsoft’s Courier ‘digital journal’: exclusive pictures and details (update: video!)

Microsoft’s Courier ‘digital journal’: exclusive pictures and details (update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple says its iPad tablet device will be available April 3 in the U.S., and in Canada and some other countries later next month.

Apple says its iPad tablet device will be available April 3 in the U.S., and in Canada and some other countries later next month.

The federal government is expected to double funds for the Own the Podium program when the federal budget is released on Thursday, from $11 million to $22 million, CBCSports.ca has learned on Wednesday.

A second domed stadium proposal has been made for Regina, this time by a First Nations group that wants to build a stadium, casino and hotel complex worth $1.2 billion.

John Herlihy, Google Europe’s big chief, says that desktops will be irrelevant in three years. Which is precisely why Apple and Google are trying to kill each other, fiercely fighting for the domination of the mobile device world.

Both companies know that mobile computing is where the action is now and where it will be forever. At its presentation, Steve Jobs was adamant that the iPad was the continuation of the battle that started with the iPhone, and repeatedly said that Apple was a “mobile devices company.” Google’s agreed, which is why Herlihy echoed Schmidt’s words at Barcelona’s GSM 2010: Everything that Google is doing and planning is centered on the mobile, the cloud, and ubiquitous connectivity.

They are both right: Your desktop computer will disappear, no matter how much the geekdom cries, unless you are an engineer or someone who requires a big screen to work on—and, even then, the idea of the desktop as we know it will change too. The mice will go extinct, and every John and Jane will do their work and their pleasure using mobile devices like phones and tablets. As it should be, because computing has to become invisible, not complicated and cumbersome, like it is today. In a few years, the computing world will be like Star Trek: The Next Generation, but without the Enterprise. [Silicon Republic]

The last-place Edmonton Oilers dealt veteran defenceman Steve Staios to Calgary on Wednesday for fellow blue-liner Aaron Johnson and a third-round draft pick.

Parliament will be asked to review the “original gender-neutral wording of the national anthem,” the throne speech says.